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Donald Trump Tag

Rand Paul is in trouble. The Real Clear Politics average has him at just 2.3% in the polls, putting him well behind outliers like John Kasich (3.2%), Mike Huckabee (2.9%), and Chris Christie (2.6%). Substantive comments in last month's CNN debate didn't help him much---but Carly Fiorina's popularity spiked. Enter a golden opportunity for Paul to hitch a ride on Fiorina's media wave. During an interview yesterday with Wolf Blitzer, he lashed out against Fiorina's hardline stance against dealing with Putin and tolerating Assad's regime in Syria:

For all his faults, Vladimir Putin has managed to do the impossible: by ordering rogue airstrikes on non-ISIS strongholds in Syria, he has united the various rebel factions vying for power in the region, and forced Barack Obama and Donald Trump to agree on something. During a press conference last Friday, President Obama told the pool that he was willing to work with Putin in Syria, but only if the resulting plan includes removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power. He went on to say that Putin's strategy of attempting to unite forces in support of Assad's regime---which directly contradicts US strategy in the region---will result in Russia being stuck in a "quagmire" with no easy exit strategy. This isn't just an easy talking point. Administration officials close to the situation see nothing but disaster:

A poll released by Investor's Business Daily Friday shows Dr. Ben Carson sailing past Donald Trump. While Trump's numbers are steadily declining, he remains one of three contenders pulling in doubly digits in IBD's poll, the third being Senator Rubio. WEBprez100515_345.gif.cms IBD writes:
The nationwide survey found that 24% of Republicans back Carson, compared with 17% who say they support Trump. Marco Rubio came in third with 11% and Carly Fiorina fourth at 9%. Jeb Bush, once considered a prohibitive favorite, ranked fifth with just 8% support, which was a point lower than those who say they are still undecided. The IBD/TIPP Poll has a proven track record for accuracy, based on its performance in the past three presidential elections. In a comparison of the final results of various pollsters for the 2004 and 2008 elections, IBD/TIPP was the most accurate. And the New York Times concluded that IBD/TIPP was the most accurate among 23 polls over the three weeks leading up to the 2012 election.

Based on the media chatter, Marco Rubio is being set up as the alternative to Jeb in taking on The Donald. Jeb wasn't up to the job of taking on The Donald. Jeb's counterpunches reminded me of George Castanza on Seinfeld. His comebacks to Trump just never seem to work: The Donald has moved beyond Jeb, and now is attacking Marco:

Speaking from Trump Tower Monday, Republican Presidential contender Donald Trump announced his "tax reform that will make America great again." The announcement brings Donald Trump's policy paper count up to a grand total of three.

When we kicked off this election cycle, many pundits (including myself) asserted that it would be the "foreign policy election" we've all been waiting for. Our prediction has played out, but with a twist: Americans want to know what the candidates think about ISIS, asylum, and the military, but we're increasingly interested in what the political "outsiders" have to say about them. In fact, we're interested in what they have to say about everything. Whether it's because we crave a fresh perspective, the novelty of the moment, or merely to watch them eventually stumble, the polls show that when Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina---the top 3 outsiders currently charming their way into the inner circle---speak, Americans like what they're hearing. It's not exactly shocking; disenchantment with Beltway politics and political insidership has spread beyond the conservative base and into the broader demographic of primary voters. It's not a matter of those candidates who have more political experience being bad---although you're free to disagree with me about one particular candidate or another---it's just that a candidate who comes from somewhere other than the Beltway seems so much more appealing. Even tea party favorites like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio (although Rubio's poll numbers have increased dramatically since the last debate) haven't quite cracked through the wall separating those with an official connection to Washington politics from those who offer a different perspective.

Earlier today, Donald Trump announced his own personal boycott of Fox News via tweet. Trump alleged Fox News' treatment was "unfair." And so the ongoing battle between Trump and cable news network rages on. A spokesman for Fox News told CNN Trump's boycott announcement followed their cancellation of his scheduled appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor."

Following her outstanding performance in the CNN GOP debate, Carly Fiorina has overtaken Ben Carson for second place in the GOP field.  According to a CNN poll released today, both Trump and Ben Carson have lost some support, while Carly has surged from 3% early this month to 15%.

Carly Fiorina shot into second place in the Republican presidential field on the heels of another strong debate performance, and Donald Trump has lost some support, a new national CNN/ORC poll shows.

The survey, conducted in the three days after 23 million people tuned in to Wednesday night's GOP debate on CNN, shows that Trump is still the party's front-runner with 24% support. That, though, is an 8 percentage point decrease from earlier in the month when a similar poll had him at 32%.

Fiorina ranks second with 15% support -- up from 3% in early September. She's just ahead of Ben Carson's 14%, though Carson's support has also declined from 19% in the previous poll.

Driving Trump's drop and Fiorina's rise: a debate in which 31% of Republicans who watched said Trump was the loser, and 52% identified Fiorina as the winner.

Another candidate whose numbers have risen since the debate is Marco Rubio.

We noted the other day that Donald Trump caught enormous media and political flak because he did not challenge someone in the audience at a town hall who called Obama a Muslim and not American, Hillary *shocked* people still believe Obama-Muslim claim she started Trump finally has spoken about the issue, and he's not backing down for being silent and not addressing the questioner's comments. First, he issued a series of tweets. Donald Trump Twitter Obama Muslim tweets  

At a large Donald Trump event yesterday, someone in the crowd asked a question which accused Barack Obama of being Muslim and complained about Muslims. Trump appeared to brush off the question mid-stream, but didn't denounce the claims, and was vague enough in his response to set the media on fire: https://twitter.com/wpjenna/status/644688774123819008 It also set Hillary Clinton on fire: https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/644710016633712640 That's mighty rich of Hillary, considering it was her campaign which started both the "Obama is Muslim" and not born in the U.S. claims and pushed them into the public consciousness during the 2008 primary campaign against Obama. "The Internet" was quick to remind Hillary that she started it:

Those tuned in to Wednesday night's GOP debate hosted by CNN and Salem Media (though mostly CNN) were left wondering what happened to Scott Walker. To be fair, it's a difficult, if not impossible task providing equal airtime to eleven people in any given debate setting. CNN chose to lead with questions about what other contenders thought of Donald Trump. Time that should have been used testing candidates on policy knowledge and prodding their hypothetical handling of various scenarios, was spent goading them into attacking either Trump or one another. A report released by the Media Research Center prior to Wednesday's debate provides an explanation for CNN's unusual line of questioning: CNN loves them some Trump. The MRC analyzed CNN's coverage of the Republican presidential primary and found that 78% of that total coverage was spent on Donald Trump. 7-8-%.

We are now beginning to see the first signs of an air war against Donald Trump. The Club for Growth just released this ad: Will it work? It did against Newt in 2011-2012. The airwaves in Iowa and Florida were flooded with ads like this one, which is clearly cut from the same cloth as the anti-Trump ad:

Ah, presidential election cycles. Nary does one pass without first unleashing drama, betrayal, scandal, and intrigue into the political arena. A Rolling Stone article published last Wednesday quoted a not-so-kind Donald Trump. Chronicling the campaign life of the mega-millionaire, the article captured what were reportedly disparaging remarks about fellow presidential contender, Carly Fiorina:
When the anchor throws to Carly Fiorina for her reaction to Trump's momentum, Trump's expression sours in schoolboy disgust as the camera bores in on Fiorina. "Look at that face!" he cries. "Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!" The laughter grows halting and faint behind him. "I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not s'posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?"
When the article went live, Cable News seized the opportunity to capitalize on a candidate cat fight, and "look at that face!" then found its way to the far corners of the internet. Wednesday evening, Fox News' Megyn Kelly asked Fiorina what she thought Trump meant when he said, "look at that face!" To which Fiorina responded, "You know, honestly Megyn, I'm not gonna spend a whole cycle wondering what Donald Trump means. But maybe, just maybe, I'm getting under his skin a little bit, because I am climbing in the polls." With the dumpster fire ablaze, Trump told Fox New's Greta Van Susteren Thursday that he was an entertainer.

On Friday night, Donald Trump joined the "Tonight Show's" Jimmy Fallon for a little late night...reflecting...on what it means to be The Donald. Literally. Reflecting. Trump interviewed a "mirror image" of himself as played by Jimmy Fallon---who did a decent job at the impersonation. Watch:

On "Fox and Friends" Monday morning, Fiorina spoke about numerous issues including Hillary Clinton, defunding Planned Parenthood, the refugee crisis, and her birthday. Fiorina also suggested Donald Trump, "throw a little more heat at Hillary." "Going after Donald Trump hasn't really gone well for other candidates who a lot of people aren't really talking about that much about anymore. Is that a smart line of attack to go after The Donald?" asked a Fox News host.

Some classic cable news was created this weekend when CNN's Jake Tapper asked Sarah Palin what role she thought she could fill in a Donald Trump administration. Palin volunteered for the role of energy secretary but said that she'd close down the department. Even the Washington Post took notice. Vanessa Williams reported:
Sarah Palin would like to be energy secretary — but not for long Sarah Palin thinks she would make a great secretary of the U.S. Energy Department because as a former governor of Alaska she knows a thing or two about "oil and gas and minerals." But she would not stay in the job for long if Republican candidate Donald Trump won the presidency and asked her to serve. The businessman and reality TV show star has said that he would "love" to have Palin in his administration "because she really is somebody that knows what’s happening. And she’s a special person." Palin, during an interview Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," said: "I think a lot about the Department of Energy, because energy is my baby ... And if I were head of that, I would get rid of it. And I would let the states start having more control over the lands that are within their boundaries and the people who are affected by the developments within their space."

As political pundits struggle to find an explanation for Trump's indisputable success in the GOP 2016 presidential primary contest, Josh Barro wonders if Trump is the candidate reform conservatives are seeking.  He writes:

For the last few years, a small but prominent group of conservative writers and thinkers has urged the Republican party to rethink its economic agenda with a greater focus on the needs of the middle class. The so-called reform conservatives have criticized the G.O.P.’s economic prescription of cutting entitlement programs and tax rates (especially on high earners) as unresponsive to the concerns of workers earning stagnant wages.

“Reform conservatism is based on a recognition that the American economy has not served middle-income people well, not just since the crisis of 2008 but at least since the year 2000,” said David Frum, the prominent Canadian-American conservative journalist and former speechwriter for George W. Bush who serves as a senior editor at The Atlantic.